Click on either banner above to return to Sidewalk Talk or It's A Maine Thing.

Winter, 2008


Sorrento Harbor, Mt. Dessert View, January



Islesboro, Aerial View, January, 2008

Sea Smoke at sunrise on Frenchman's Bay on a frosty ( 10 below) January morning.

Stonington Harbor, before the Nor'easter


Hauling Traps at Stonington Harbor





Fall, 2007

That recently happened to me when an acquaintance, Howdy, stopped by my coffee bar, the Maine Grind, in Ellsworth, on a recent wintry day. I was on my way to Stonington to visit Richard Penfold at Stonington Sea Products. Hearing I was heading that way, Howdy hitched a ride with me because he wanted to visit his friends at the Penobscot East Resource Center to check in with the Downeast Initiative in Stonington.

I was totally unaware of the Downeast Initiative and had read only a little bit about the Penobscot Bay Resource Center. But, after spending 45 minutes in the car with Howdy on the trip down, not only did I become familiar with this community-based Center and the responsible things they are doing, I also learned about the Stonington Fisheries Alliance and the lobstermen who built the Zone C Lobster Hatchery in Stonington. Remember what I said about sleepy villages where dynamic projects are happening? This is one incredible project that I have to take the opportunity to share with you, dear reader.

The Penobscot East Resource Center is a community-based organization established in 2003 to help secure a future for fishermen and their communities. They support responsible fisheries management, collaborative marine science, and sustainable economic development that benefit fishermen, coastal communities on Penobscot Bay, and the eastern section of the Gulf of Maine. Does the name Ted Ames ring a bell? Remember the guy who won the McArthur Genius Award for his scientific research of cod migration patterns? His work, facilitated in part by Penobscot East, has translated fishermen’s traditional, sustainable knowledge of groundfish behavior on coastal Maine into concrete scientific data. The data that he has collected is helpful to current studies that aid in rebuilding groundfish stocks in Downeast Maine. (A Maine fisherman receiving a Mc Arthur Genius Award. Pretty sweet, huh?)

The Zone C Lobster Hatchery is the result of the collaborative effort between the Zone C Lobster Council, the Stonington Fisheries Alliance, and the Stonington Lobster Co-op with Penobscot East having provided the operational and staffing support necessary to build and operate this community project. Six area towns donated the time, materials, and money which have supported the hatchery through each growing season. It costs about $100,000 annually to operate the hatchery site.

Many of Maine’s coastal communities are dependent on only one fish . . . the lobster. An unexpected downturn could spell disaster for the livelihoods of thousands of people who work within this fragile industry, not to mention the i the coastal communities that are dependent on small-boat fisheries. Penobscot East Resource Center has helped create a structure and opportunities that have helped rebuild groundfish stocks, resource management plans for clams, reclaiming the scallop industry and providing long-term solutions to groudfishing challenges. The fishing stocks can be rebuilt. Managing them locally using responsible methods will guarantee that the stocks will be there for future generations.

The necessary first step to restore groundfish stocks in the Gulf of Maine is working with the New England-wide area Management Coalition. This group is made up of fishermen, scientists, conservation groups, and individuals working together to create a community-managed groundfish fishery in Downeast Maine. Collectively all these groups envision the Gulf of Maine once again over-run with fish supporting communities in sustainable and responsible ways. This will come as a result of careful, local management with everyone involved.

The first step has been the construction of the Zone C Lobster Fishery. Located in Stonington, this hatchery was built by and for fishermen. 40,000 lobsters, each the size of the top of your thumb, were released annually  in 2006 and 2007 in suitable habitat selected by local fisherman. The goal of the hatchery is to learn whether hatchery-grown lobsters can survive and improve the wild fishery in chosen areas along the Maine coast. The released lobsters are now Stage 4 in the development phase and just beginning to be bottom-dwelling.

Pretty interesting stuff, huh? Want to learn more? Visit the Zone C Lobster Hatchery at 51 Indian Point Road, Stonington, 367-2708. Or if you are in Stonington, visit the Penobscot East Resource Center located on the road above the Stonington Opera House. For information junkies, endless resource information related to the fisheries abounds. Well worth the trip. Our hat goes off to Robin Alden and her dedicated staff for doing such an amazing job!

Fisheries Facts:
Stonington, Maine once had 25 groundfish boats. Now it has fewer than 3.
Lobster provided 76 percent of Maine’s fisheries in 2005.

Sea Smoke…Living by the water opens one's eyes to many wonderful visual experiences. Yes, the birds, tides, wind and light are amazingly beautiful. However, witnessing sea smoke in the early morning hours is maybe the topper. The steam dancing along the surface of the water, usually accompanied by glistening ice frozen to nearby branches and limbs, is a feast for the eyes. Mistakenly many think that it is warm weather that causes what appears to be steam rising from the water. In fact the condition exists due to the difference between the frigid temperature of the air and that of the water which creates condensation. Generally speaking it only occurs early in the morning and disappears as the sun rises higher in the sky, usually by 8 AM.

On a very rare occasion sea smoke can hang around all day which is a wonderfully bizarre Maine winter experience. Anyone out there remember December, 1979, when the sea smoke hung around for days?

Whale Sightings:

One of my fishermen friends was telling me about sightings of a pod of whales in coastal Maine over the past few weeks. Hard to believe that whales are still in these parts at this time of year. However, because of the unusual amount of whale activity, a number of federal and state agencies have gotten involved. Whales are protected, afterall. 

The sightings of a pod of nearly two dozen right whales at the mouth of Penobscot Bay in late November, and seven right whales near Portland during the same week, has forced the federal agency, National Marine Fisheries Service, to impose fishing gear restrictions on almost 3,500 square miles of ocean south of Rockland from December 5 to December 19. This restriction will not have a noticeable affect on the fishermen who fish close to shore in the bays and around the islands, because most of them have taken their gear out of the water for the winter. However, the Dynamic Area Management Zone (only a government agency could come up with that term), where these restrictions have been implemented, could have a noticeable impact on the larger boats that belong to the off-shore fleet fishing in federally controlled waters. Lobstermen fishing in this zone are required to use gear that has been specially modified to reduce the risk of harming whales. The gear must be rigged with ground-lines constructed of rope that sinks. (A ground-line is the rope that connects the lobster traps to one another on the ocean floor.) And, except for the bottom third of the line, the buoy line that lies near the surface must be rigged with “weak links” that can break with ease if a whale swims into it. All of this is an effort by the Atlantic Large Reduction Plan (another government agency zinger) that includes a variety of measures aimed at protecting endangered northern right whales, humpback whales, and other threatened large marine animals. Oh, how we love these amazing creatures! Swim on dear whales of our northern waters.

Scallop Season, December 1 to April 15:

Remember years ago, when Maine ocean scallops were the queen of the winter seas? This seasonal delicacy was the bread and butter of the winter catch for the lobstermen along the coast. After they finished the lobster season in the fall, their boats were rigged with huge metal draggers which hung off the stern of many a boat. Early morning sea smoke obscured the boats as they motored out of the harbors each winter morning. The scallops were sold from many dooryards along the Maine coast. Everybody had their favorite fisherman that they bought these fresh, ocean scallops from. Always juicy, delicate and irresistible…and available at a good price, to boot! Never bought by the pound…they were always bought by the gallon. Unfortunately, time has brought many changes to what once was an economic staple of our local fishing community. The numbers tell the story.

In 2005, the scallop landings totaled 21,995 pounds with a value of $186,000. This was quite different only a decade ago, when landings reached 1 million pounds a year between 1987 and 1996. In 1993 alone, scallopers landed 1.6 million pounds worth almost $10 million. Of course, these lower numbers are affected by other factors, such as global warming, over harvesting, and so on. But much of this decrease has to do with changing federal and state regulations. Many new rules controlling the Gulf of Maine Scallop fishery have been implemented over the years and have had a huge impact on the industry. The combination of heavy regulation, the permitting process, and the role that the feds and state regulators play, are the core reason for these changes. Most boats here in Maine scallop and fish in state-managed waters within 3 miles of the shore. Back in the day of the huge landings, the Gulf of Maine was a territory that was open to all boats of any size with almost no regulations. The culture has changed and the fisherman have altered their ways of doing business which has left us, the lovers of the Maine ocean scallop, scrambling for the delicacy. However, whenever one bites into these delicacies, the politics of how it got to your table and the price one paid for it become moot. A freshly harvested Maine ocean scallop eaten this time of year can’t be beat!

Fall, 2007
LNG News from Washington County

Washington County…The LNG the battle in the Calais area took a new turn last week. Downeast LNG recently withdrew its state application to build a liquid natural gas terminal in Robinnston because a federal agency denied its request to run a pipeline through the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge near Calais in Washington County.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service said that it was “not appropriate” for the company to run the pipeline from its facility that would include a 320,000 cubic-meter terminal, storage tanks, regasification plant and pier in Robinnston. In a press release the company said that it is looking for alternative routes.